Anthony Weiner: Don Juan in HellDoes the Anthony Weiner affair mean anything? Some married congressman may or may not have sent a Twitter crotch shot of himself to a college girl on the other side of the country. Snore. So what else is new? We all know that our male politicians — left, right, gay, straight or whatever — suffer from overdoses of testosterone. It's almost the sole distinguishing characteristic of a profession that otherwise has no specific qualifications. Weiner himself had the reputation of being quite the playboy before he married the half-Indian, half-Pakistani Huma Abedin in 2008. So what if it hasn't really stopped, even to the degree he counts porn stars among the short list he follows on Twitter? How very French. But wait. That's the point, isn't it? Is this really the kind of behavior we Americans want from our public officials? When they lie in public about sex, how do we know they are not lying about other things? Yes, I know Weiner has not yet been proven to have done anything, but his evasive behavior in response to questions is reminiscent of a long list of public figures from Bill Clinton to John Edwards to Eliot Spitzer to Mark Sanford to ... well, I could go on. Although these men were far from the first to commit adultery, they all have something in common that most do not. They lied about it to the American public while serving us as our elected officials. None of them could be honest until it was absolutely necessary, if they were then. Weiner has all the earmarks of such a person, refusing to talk about what happened in a recent television interview while insisting on discussing the debt ceiling.
An argument could be made, of course, that that makes a good portion of males (and a good portion of females, as well) liars about everything. But there are degrees. And the way you respond to the revelation of your peccadilloes is a mark of your character. In that sense, Weiner has failed miserably. The defensive mixture of entitlement and anger he displayed at the news conference Tuesday in response to many natural questions on his activities is, to put it mildly, unattractive. Like many Lotharios, he finds it difficult to "man up" when the pressure is on. His Brooklyn constituents should be ashamed. This may be a good teaching moment for America, just as the Strauss-Kahn affair should be for France. There is no reason we should elect such people. Their behavior is not cute, nor is it charmingly corrupt in New Orleans/Chicago fashion. These are our elected representatives at a moment, as Weiner himself reminded us, of serious economic crisis. We don't have time for people like him. But we shouldn't feel sorry for Anthony Weiner. He may not achieve his life long goal of being mayor of New York, but considering the values of our era, he could end joining his former colleague ex-Gov. Spitzer as a host on CNN. To find out more about Roger L. Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM ?? ?? ?? ?? 
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